To be read and then released.

This is a light, easy read, telling the story of Evelyn (as a 9 year old girl) who was put into temporary care by the state in Ireland when her mother left the family. The story tells of her father's struggle to get his children back from the convents in which they had been placed.

Unlike similar situations, this story is not about the cruelty of the nuns/brothers looking after the children (in fact, it is clear that Evelyn was well looked after and felt loved and settled where she was) but instead focuses on her father's court case and the assumptions inherent in the then Irish system that a lone father wasn't an appropriate guardian for his own small children.

I didn't think the book was terribly well written though but to be fair, the author is telling her own story rather than professing to be an author of great literature!